After our article on modern gaming a while ago, we decided to dive futher into gaming. That's why I met up with one of my friends, and asked him if he could loan me the best game he had for his XBox 360. Maybe I should have been a bit more specific, I thought, because when he came over, before I knew it, he shoved a Japanese RPG in my console. This would be my first foray into the strange, magical, and disturbed world of the Japanese RPG. Read on for a review of Lost Odyssey.

Rather interesting that only one single game on the xbox360 is in the top 100 best selling games 2008 in japan (worlds biggest console video game market). And that particular game happens to be just one of those rpg´s. "Tales of Vesperia"

I haven't played lost Odyssey, but to me it looked like an old style jrpg prettified.

I mean random encounters are total crap. They are acceptable in a portable game for ds or psp that cannot handle the load, but on a powerful console it is simply dated. Square has pretty much abandoned it, and for the better. Also combat seemed to "menuified", comparing to say ff12. On all jrpgs there is a certain level of grind expected but Gambits allowed me to lazily cruise while grinding and made the whole process a lot more enjoyable. Plus battle intro animations suck - they waste too much time.

Whilst some don't like the fact that ff12 was evolving, I did. I also hope that ff13 is a further evolution. This seems a bit retro and stuck to the old ways, which frankly, I've grown out of.

I don't even know why I writing this, I will never play this game as I don't own an xbox360

Well, the X-COM series had a strategy aspect, and thus the turn-based gameplay was compelling. In other hand, all turn based JRPG can be won without using a single brain cell, which make is an amazingly boring choice.

As much as I like JRPGs, atleast the ones that aren't cliche-ridden with emo characters, world-saving stuff, and all that boring routine, I agree generally with you Thom.
I played Lost Odyssey on a friend's 360, and I really didn't like it. More like, hated it. One of the main reasons was the random-encounters.
IMO, the best 2 JRPGs so far on the 360 are Tales of Vesperia and Eternal Sonata. Atleast no random encounters , but they don't really come close to something like Fallout 3

I really loved Grandia 2 on dreamcast. No random encouters. I LOVED the combat system which had this sliding initiative bar with each character having their own time to select an action and time to perform an action. If you timed it just right you could hit an enemy while he's trying to perform and knock him back down the scale. Yeah, it was turn based but I like to be able to play rpg's without being hurried.

I actually didn't mind the random encounters all that much and at times preferred the linear gameplay (compared to say oblivion where its so easy to just get lost or overwhelmed in all the choice you have) but the amount of overly long cutscenes got on my nerves (and literally every 15mins there was a cut scene) and how messed up boss battles were. If I didn't have gamefaqs open on the laptop I would have played quite a few of them endlessly.

Having said that...the "dreams" really were an unexpected treat. The first one the g/f and I skipped over (we play RPGs together swapping the controller) and after that we watched/read every one. Some were extremely touching and the most endearing part of the game. Never made it past the 2nd disk though

Interesting to read a review of a JRPG by somebody who doesn't like them. I must say that I haven't played the game itself, but I watched a friend play a lot of it.

It seems that your likes and dislikes are in complete opposition to mine - I enjoy turn-based gameplay because it gives me time to construct elaborate strategies. And the thing I dislike most about JRPGs is the long sections of story. Me and my friend took particular dislike to the dream sequences in that game.

Your points are certainly valid, but I think the game was designed to be in that classic JRPG style and so they probably made some decisions to stick to the old way of doing things for the benefit of fans rather than making drastic changes to appeal to non-fans, like some of the changes in FFXII.

Also, I agree with airwedge1, I really don't know what this review is doing here. It was interesting, but seems inappropriate in this context.

I agree with Thom here. Though relatively new to OSNews, it's not a secret to me that a good chunk of those who work with operating systems, computers, and technology in general will also be attracted to video games, hence the review in order to appeal to these people-- notice it's just one review... not a sudden barrage of not-so-related content. It does seem to be more of a Page 2 item to me, however, but who am I to question?

Well written reviews are always useful no matter if your tastes lines up with the reviewer or not. A good reviewer not only says whether he likes something or not, but also why. I have no problem reading a well written review where the reviewer is claiming that a game is the best he's played all year and at the same time conclude that I'll probably not like the game.

A well written review should give you enough basis to make your own informed decision about a product, no matter what the reviewer thought of the product.

The only well-written reviews I've seen are the ones on insomna.ac. Most New Game Journalists hate Alex Kierkegaard because he's got a pompous attitude and has a rather harsh and direct use of language, but IMO he's one of the only good reviewers around.

The rest is all crap. New Game Journalists' reviews suck, and this review is not an exception. Alex at least understands what games are and how is one supposed to review them. This reads more like an opinion on JRPGs than a game review (and Alex would tell you straight away how reviewing across genres makes no sense at all).

Or, if you have no friends, buy the game, learn to count to ten, get an umbrella for the pile of shit coming your way, and, well, sweet dreams, buddy.

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To paraphrase "This game sucks, please buy it from us!" Maybe you should review things you like Thom. Then maybe we can support OSNews.

I do enjoyed Lost Odyssey, especialy for the good background stories (the dreams) but the boring combat system kind of ruined it - I have to say that Eternal Sonata was better overall, despite its relative shortness.

PS. For me, Final Fantasy VII is THE BEST the jrpg genre has to offer to this date. And yes, these games in general - either you love them or you hate them

The same feeling Thom has with Lost Odyssey, I have with Omikron. If I would have to give that game a score, It would be 4/10. It is one of my most favorite games ever though, just because of the great 'feel'.

Honestly, it sounds like the reviewer just doesn't like JRPG's. Things like "random encounters", "turn based combat", "enemies that dodge certain magical attacks", all things that he refers to as negatives are typical of the JRPG genre. It's like me doing a review of a FPS like CoD4 and complaining that it's too fast paced and intense.

If you don't like JRPG's, your review of a JRPG is most likely going to be negative, and hence, useless to your readers.

How can you say ALL JPRG's are bad just because this one is? It's an entire genre, and this certain game is linear. Pick up a copy of Dragon Warrior 7 and write a review for that. I mean, that game is just ridiculously epic.

I love this game. It is my favorite game on the 360 (followed by Mass Effect, then Fallout 3). The writer of this article didn't really review this game, he actually critiqued it. Everyone doesn't like the same style of games (I myself despise First Person Shooters). When a JRPG fan goes to play a JRPG, it's for the story. It's not for fast action gameplay.

I find a problem with this article, cause it's the writer's first JRPG (or so he claims), and it shows. I didn't have the "pixel" problem that he had. The platforming is rather easy as well. The random encounters are just a throw back to the old JRPG style. The man behind the game is the creator of the first 10 Final Fantasy's, and he said he wanted to make the best traditional JRPG. Hence, the random encounters and a lot of other traditional JRPG mechanics.

The game is beautiful, and the story is compelling. It's not just "Hey let's go save the world," there is a lot of drama in this game. There is more emphasis on emotions than any other game I ever played. Granted, the 2 kids in the story annoy the hell out of me, but, sometimes they served their purpose well.

And, anyone that wants to complain about fetch quests, and claim that Fallout 3 is great...well...you are simply retarded. Fallout 3 is nothing more than a ton of fetch quests (or...go to point a and and examine it).

I'd recommend this game to anyone for the story alone. Sure, it doesn't have the open ended freedom of Fallout 3, but, Fallout 3's story can't compare to the depth of Lost Odyssey's.